Abstract

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute
(CMFRI) has helped popularize bivalve
farming in Kerala State by setting up demonstration
farms and conducting train ing programmes
for fishers. This has created opportunities for
rural development and self-employment. Since
1995, edible bivalves like the Indian backwater
oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis and the green
mussel, Perna viridis have been farmed on a commercial
scale in the estuaries of Kerala.